Sunday, August 27, 2006

THE LAST DAY

What do you mean,the last day? Then end of the world? The day you die? The final day of the sale? Your last chance to take advantage of that thing you really wanted but wanted to wait until the last moment. Wait don't get confused, I'm not talking about the last moment, that's a whole nuther can of worms so let's not go there. Keep it on the subject, the last day.
The last day can entail many different things, some sad, some happy and some sad/happy if there is such a thing. How can you be sad & happy at the same time? Wait!! Back to the last day, not the sad/happy day, BUT the last day. What does it me to you? I know what it means to me, but what does it mean to you? Think about it. The last day could be the first day of the rest of your life. Now that can be a sad/happy day,right? There's that sad/happy thing again.
The last day for me is nothing too drastic, just that I will have to get up at a set time, drive a set number of miles, and interact with about 300 people every day, five days a week unless there is a holiday. Yep, for me it's my last day of vacation.
Now as I write this I have a song running through my head which I must go find now and listen to it as it well could be a title for another subject down the line. A RollingStones biggie, The Last Time!!

Tuesday, August 08, 2006

THE RIPOFF

This past week my family and I vacationed in Maine. This is our yearly trip as a family and it's usually Maine. We tried Vermont one year and it just didn't work, so back to Maine. No complaints, lots to do and then there is the ocean which is a hoot. On giant swimming pool and if the weather is hotter than hell like it was all this summer the ocean water is even enjoyable.

Super vacation in all areas of vacationing except one. I was robbed and it happened right in front of my eyes and at one of my most favorite places in the world, Dunkin Doughnuts.

You see I use their cash card which is a rechargable debit card. Well I order drinks and patiently wait for them to be prepared which I've done hundreds of times and waited for the dunkin doughnuts girl to ring it up. Then she starts looking at some coupons saying she was giving my a discount on my drinks which I thought was very nice. She gives me my card, receipt and the coupons she was taking the numbers off of. I don't bother looking, just stuff it back in my wallet and enjoyed my drink.

Two days later I'm at another Dunkin Doughnuts and again order my drinks for myself and family, hand the girl my card, she runs it through the machine and she says there is no money on the card. I'm taken aback, pay cash and we enjoy our drinks not giving the $0 card much thought.

Until later that night when I'm laying in bed and replaying the day I had and up comes the $0 card and that is where I'm stuck, my mind wandering and wondering about it. So I get up and get my wallet and pull out the card and here I discover it was a brand new card and not my old chipped one. The new card had a sticker on it. The reason I didn't see it right away was because the card was covered with the receipt and coupon. I was robbed right in front of my eyes.

So when I get home I go on my computer to the Dunkin Doughnuts site and check my account as my card was registered and sure enough someone was enjoying my card. Now that really pissed me off, so I call Dunkin' Doughnuts customer service and they are closed cause it was a weekend, so I had no choice but to cancel the card which still had a few bucks on it.

I called Dunkin service on Monday, explained what happened and they are investigating it. Not much to investigate as that's what happened. But in between the time I cancelled the card and Dunkin cancelled it I lost another $15 as evidently the whole Dunkin Doughnuts corporation take weekends off. So out of a $50 card I was able to save $10.88. I was told that the store that the theft occurred is responsible to reimburse me.

Now that was two days ago and I still haven't heard anything, but then I'm told Rome wasn't built in a day either. So I'll be patient. I'll keep you posted. Any bets on whether I get my money or not?